Like Humans Do

by William Jackson on 2004-05-11

I stayed up until 12:45 last night/this morning watching The Two Towers. Thatʼs a great movie. But itʼs long. To quote myself, it was “as long as my arm times two,” and thatʼs long. I have long arms. Thatʼs why itʼs long.

But anyway, I was thinking, why would anyone want to sit for such a long time watching a movie like that? Iʼve noticed that most movies that have been released recently are longer than movies released five years ago. I think we as a human family have a pulsating attention span. We all have attention deficit disorder one decade, and patience like nobodyʼs business the next. Why canʼt we settle down? Perhaps itʼs the tides.

Or El Niño. That would do it. I read a great paper about El Niño today, that explained the very reason we have such a problem with it (El Niño): we as a society refuse to satiate Peruvian gods.

I knew it all along.